Lily and Ben sat beside the pool with Big Ben, who was holding the sleeping Mimi in his arms.
“Lily,” he said, “I know I oughta let you put this baby girl to bed, but I swear, I don’t believe I can stand to part with her.”
“She does look awfully comfortable,” Lily said. Big Ben cradled Mimi’s little body in his enormous forearm and hand. In his other hand, he held the last beer from the cooler.
“Daddy,” Ben said, “there’s something I need to talk to you about ... some legal trouble.”
Big Ben raised his wooly eyebrows. “You in trouble with the law, boy?”
“No, Daddy ... nothing like that. It’s about Mimi, actually.”
“Now you got me real confused, Benny Jack.” Big Ben took another swig of beer and looked down at Mimi’s cherubic face.
“It’s about who gets custody of Mimi,” Ben the younger said. “You see ... I’m Mimi’s biological father, but Lily here isn’t Mimi’s real mother.”
Lily was offended by the phrase real mother, but decided it was best not to make an issue out of it… not while they were trying to make their case. “Mimi is the daughter of my best friend Charlotte,” Lily explained. “She was killed in an accident, and she left custody of Mimi to me.”
“Charlotte was in the car with Dez,” Ben added.
Big Ben shook his head. “I sure was sorry when ole Dez got killed. He was queer as a three- dollar bill, but he was funny as hell.” He stared off in the distance for a second. “Now, Benny Jack, Mimi here’s your baby by Charlotte?”
“Yes. Charlotte and I were ... involved.”
Lily could tell she really wanted this plan to work because she managed to keep a straight face during this part of the story.
“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!” Big Ben laughed, obviously delighted. “All this time I thought you was a fairy, and here you was, with two women!”
“Go figure,” Ben replied lamely.
“So, anyway,” Lily said, “now Charlotte’s parents want to contest my custody of Mimi — they don’t think I should be allowed to raise her.”
Big Ben drained his can of beer and crushed it. “Now is that on account them thinking there was somethin’ between you and Charlotte?” His steel-gray eyes were focused on Lily.
“Well, uh . . . there was something between Charlotte and me,” Lily said, as Ben shot her a warning glance. “But that was before I met Benny Jack here.”
“Hmm.” Big Ben scratched his beard thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t even pretend to understand what it is you young people do today, but what I want to know is this: The two of y’all has a real marriage, right? You’re devoted to each other, with no hanky-panky on the side?”
“We are,” Ben and Lily said in unison.
